Soul of the World

SOUL OF THE WORLD
Henry Purcell/edited by Holland Jancaitis

This glorious chorus comes from Purcel's Ode “Hail, bright Cecilia, A
Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1692” and is equally effective with choirs of all
sizes.

The text praises music as the “soul of the world” which civilizes chaos and
brings the various parts of our primitive universe together into one perfect
harmony!

The writing demonstrates Purcell's exceptional skill in painting the text
with his composer's brush. The singing should be fresh, vibrant and full of
strong contrasts.

We have indicated some suggested articulation in the voice parts and also
added dynamic markings which work well. However, none of these are
Purcell's own markings of course and conductors can choose any
alternatives which seem to them more appropriate.

The keyboard part is a distillation of the original scoring for strings and
oboes to make the piece accessible to choirs without a Purcellian orchestra
to hand.

Simon Carrington and Holland Jancaitis

recording performed by Yale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, Director

Click here to see a sample.

Click here to listen to a recording (MP3).